December Garden Tour

A quick mid month garden tour to bring you up to speed on the current state of affairs down on the patch. December for me is very much a hangover month. Most things have stopped growing with the arrival of cold wintry weather but the garden is still full with a wide selection of vegetables which have matured during late summer and early autumn. It also offers a transition – as early sowings for next Spring also start to take centre stage.

Below are a selection of veg which very much fall into this bracket:

Monstrous Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Last year I had to wait until April to crop but it was well worth it!

Broad Beans – sown in October and planted out Mid-November after clearing pumpkins.

Tomato cuttings taken in September – beginning to put on some timber!

Early peas – ready for planting out over the Christmas period. This is very much an experimental sowing so nothing lost if they fail to make it through the Winter.

Alongside these are a host of vegetables which are still providing regular crops. Leeks, florence fennel, kale, cabbage, rocket and parsnips help bridge the gap over winter. The majority of these can be left in the ground and picked as and when required. Whilst not as bountiful as Summer pickings they certainly provide a hearty meal on those cold, dark evenings.

An example of the selection of veg still available in the Kitchen garden during December.

In the greenhouse – the peppers continue to ripen – albeit at a very slow pace. They share the space with winter salading crops such as lambs lettuce and oriental mustards. During frosty evenings – I provide some additional heating through the use of tea lights placed under a terracotta pot. This helps elevate the temperature above freezing – which effectively stops the majority of plants from succumbing to the frost.